Moraes imposes a fine on Monark and creates an inquiry for disobedience

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), fined BRL 300,000 the influencer Bruno Aiub, known as Monark, for non-compliance with a court decision and ordered the opening of an inquiry to investigate him for disobedience.

According to the magistrate, the influencer created new profiles to reproduce content with misinformation already banned by the STF and tried to profit from the material. For Moraes, the conduct shows that “the investigated is deliberately violating the decision of the Supreme Court”.

Moraes ordered the Central Bank to immediately block the amount of the fine “possibly existing in accounts and financial investments” on behalf of the influencer.

The magistrate also determined that several social networks block Monark’s accounts and profiles, under penalty of a fine of R$ 100,000 per day. Companies must provide the profile registration data to the STF.

In the decision, Moraes cites the publication of an interview by Monark, on July 1, with journalist Allan dos Santos, “in which he returns to utter new attacks on the Supreme Court”.

“As if that were not enough, there is a record of news published in the press informing that BRUNO AIUB has taken advantage of Spotify’s moderation failures to evade court decisions and, through monetization, earn profits with his podcast ‘MonarkTalks’, through its availability on several other platforms, in order to persist in the dissemination of untrue information against the electoral system, in disrespect for the judicial decisions handed down in these records, and the Covid-19 pandemic, “said the magistrate.

After learning of the decision, Monark informed Gazeta do Povo that Rumble – the platform that criticized censorship and appealed Moraes’ decision in June – suspended his profile. He still doesn’t know what he will do to appeal the decision.

In a video to the bulletin of freedom, Monark called Moraes’ decision “persecution” by an order considered totally illegal. “Now I’ve been fined R$300,000 for not complying with a decision that was prior censorship, that is, not complying with Moraes’ prior censorship decision and therefore, he continues to pursue me,” said Monark.

In June, Moraes had already blocked all of Monark’s social networks and prohibited the influencer from “publishing and sharing misinformation”, under penalty of a fine of R$ 10,000 in case of non-compliance.